Group Read: The Blind Assassin

Has anybody else started reading? I've read about 1/4 of the book and am finding it technically brilliant but oddly unmoving. I can't quite get a handle on what is at stake here. Maybe it's the three layers of story that aren't coming together for me. Maybe it's that I keep wondering what this all has to do with Emily Dickinson, who actually says "blond assassin" (in "Apparently With No Surprise") but if you'd asked me to quote it I'd have said "blind assassin" and I'm sure Atwood meant us to think of the poem.

What do other people think? What matters in this story, and why? What moves you?

Ah look, I got here right at the beginning of the discussion. I'm liking all the interconnected stories. I'm about 1/2 way through and I find myself looking at situations from viewpoints unusual to me - as in workers and owners. I'll have to check out the Emily Dickinson poem, but blindness - as in to other's viewpoints and life situations- seems right to me.

I'm so impressed with the way Atwood describes things. This is something I read earlier today, talking about a party:
For this evening she wore a jersey dress the colour of a duster - taupe was the name of this colour, she'd told us; it was French for mole. On anyone else it would have looked like a droopy bag with sleeves and a belt, but Callie managed to make it seem the height, not of fashion or chic exactly - this dress implied that such things were beneath notice - but rather of something easy to overlook but sharp, like a common kitchen implement - an ice pick, say - just before the murder. As a dress, it was a raised fist, but in a silent crowd.

Can you think of a more perfect description.

I'm so impressed with the way Atwood describes things. This is something I read earlier today, talking about a party:
For this evening she wore a jersey dress the colour of a duster - taupe was the name of this colour, she'd told us; it was French for mole. On anyone else it would have looked like a droopy bag with sleeves and a belt, but Callie managed to make it seem the height, not of fashion or chic exactly - this dress implied that such things were beneath notice - but rather of something easy to overlook but sharp, like a common kitchen implement - an ice pick, say - just before the murder. As a dress, it was a raised fist, but in a silent crowd.

Can you think of a more perfect description.

I started it on Jan 1st and got about half-way through and then I had to put it aside due to other priorities. I was really hooked and wondering how Laura's novel is going to wind into the story of her life. I hope to get back to it early next week and then I will return to discuss!

ARE YOU F---ING KIDDING ME?! Out of all Atwood's novels, someone chose this one? You guys are better off reading The Robber Bride or The Handmaid's Tale

Evidently you didn't like it. I finished it yesterday and continue to marvel at the way Atwood, through twists and misdirection, managed to show how blindness can exist in seemingly clear sighted people. The more I think about it, the better it gets.

I read Blind Assassin a couple of years ago, and I definitely thought it was worth reading and belonged on the 1001 list.
--BJ

I hated The Handmaid's Tale, personally. But the more I read this one, the more I like it. It's extremely clever. I know what's going to happen (having, as usual, read ahead) and I'm really impressed by the way Atwood is leading and misleading us with her narrator's tale. I like books that end up somewhere you didn't expect. I still don't quite know how she's going to get there.

and why did you hate Handmaid's? I thought it was the best of the three of hers I've read so far. My review's at

http://johnandsheena.co.uk/books/?p=2506&

The Handmaid's Tale was the first Atwood I read, and I loved it. Maybe it was the fantastic elements that didn't appeal. Some of the people in my RL bookclub hate it when books deviate from what one would expect in "normal life". The next book of hers that I read I didn't like at all, but I can't remember which one that was. I've loved Alias Grace and Cat's Eye and very much liked The Robber Bride. She has a way of describing people and actions that grab the reader's attention. However, one thing came to mind, she described someone who was fashionably tan from too much intentional sun as heading for a face that looked like a testicle. When I read that I thought it so clever, but when discussing it with my daughter it occurred to me that a testicle would be smooth, she should have said the face would look like a scrotum. Why do you think she did that?

I've started to read this book. I'm about 150 pages in, but I've had to take a break. I'll probably get back to it soon.

My impression so far is that the style and the language is good. There are lots of details and descriptions that you don't expect- total avoidance of cliche- and yet they all seem to work well. I recognize the author's skill in that regard. It took me awhile to get into the story, though. The science fiction part of The Blind Assassin was easy to get into, and for now I find myself wishing that could be the entire book. I'm having some trouble connecting to Iris, although it's improving a bit as she writes about her past. Towards the beginning I was more like, ok, so what? Where's the conflict here? I don't know how the pieces of the story will come together yet, but I'll keep reading and see what happens.

dste, That was my reaction exactly when I was where you are in this book. It does get more coherent, in a very clever way.

After an unavoidable distraction, I was able to return to The Blind Assassin. I finished it this morning. I love the nested stories (as someone wrote somewhere, the stories within the story are like a set of Russian dolls). I also liked how Atwood slowly revealed little details that twisted the story. I can see how this book isn't to everyone's tastes, but if you're looking for an interesting and meandering book to get lost in for a while, give this one a try.

I just realized that this is my 11th Atwood book, and the final one from the original 1001 list. There are a couple I liked better, but this one was very, very good indeed.

Buttons play such a big role in the book. The grandfather specialized in ordinary, well crafted buttons. So, what do we know about buttons - they can be used for decoration, as the beautiful wives were, but decoration was not behind the fortune - function was. So, what is the function of a button? It holds fabric together. Iris's disastrous marriage was arranged to hold her family's finances together, but that failed. The relationship between Iris and Laura failed for a long time. Laura's grasp on reality was bludgeoned into failure by men who should have helped her. But the plain relationships, those with the family housekeeper and the housekeeper's child sustained both sisters, as much as they could be sustained. Any other thoughts on buttons?

I still haven't finished reading the book, but I think you make an interesting point, Citizenjoyce. I think that perception might also be an important element. Iris didn't appreciate the functionality of the buttons as a girl; she was more enchanted with fancy buttons, perhaps for ladies gloves. Iris' marriage to Richard has an impressive appearance- they have lots of money, they both wear fancy clothes and are part of high society. Despite this, the relationship is clearly weak and unhealthy. On the other hand, the other romantic relationship shown in the book, the one depicted in the Blind Assassin portions, is completely unattractive in general opinion and would be frowned upon, yet it somehow functions much better than Iris' respectable marriage. I wonder if this is an intentional parrallel here.

Also, I forget, does Richard's company make buttons as well?

I think Richard's company makes inferior clothing, underwear perhaps? Actually, I think he has various companies that make different things. I like your analysis of the relationships.

I just finished. Now that I finally understand, I feel like I have to go back and reread it to bring all the parts together more firmly in my mind. Did anybody else get that feeling after finishing?

Yes. It's kind of like watching The Sixth Sense, getting to that gotcha ending, then finding out that whenever the color red is used, there's a dead person. Makes you want to go back and see if it's true. If The Blind Assassin weren't so long, I'd be tempted. As it is, not right now.

I finally finished my review of this book. It was just one of those things where I found it difficult to decide what to say. Anyway, though, I thought that I'd mention it in case anyone was interested.

What a funny review, you have such good things to say about a book you didn't like.

Thanks. Yeah, it wasn't the book's fault that I didn't like it. The characters and the plot line just didn't appeal to me as a reader. As a future writer looking at techniques, I appreciate its inventiveness and overall syle. That's how it works sometimes, I guess.